Chapter 966: Act 138 – The Witch Revolt I
Brendel gazed at the gray-brown stone fragment on the walnut desk, feeling perplexed.
Just three days ago, this inconspicuous item almost triggered a disaster. After an unknown pressure vanished above Fatan Port, an earthquake occurred not far from the harbor on the seabed, resulting in a small-scale tsunami that fortunately did not cause significant chaos. While it was likely a mere coincidence, Brendel suspected that it was more likely caused by the earlier disturbances in the Sea of Magic. After all, this world is bound by laws that govern the elements within chaotic magic, which can reflect subtle changes occurring in the Sea of Magic.
Now, this stone fragment lay quietly on the desk, plain and unremarkable, with a rough surface and no magical reactions. No matter how one tried to probe it, there would be no response—unless you took out several other pieces of stone to compare. Otherwise, it seemed like an ordinary rock by the roadside; had he not witnessed its remarkable performance days ago, Brendel would have thought nothing of it.
All signs indicated that the pressure appearing above Fatan three days prior was likely related to the Duskgazer Dragon. Though it had only lasted for a brief moment and had not appeared since, Brendel was sensitive to the remnants of that apocalyptic aura from his experiences with the later events in the game involving the Duskgazer. Despite being fleeting, he had keenly detected the presence of that aura.
The three fragments had resonated previously to form something akin to a shattered map, but why did the resonance of four fragments produce such a significant reaction? What was this object, and why did it attract the attention of that existence within chaos? Generally speaking, only the emergence of a divine artifact could cause such a disturbance. Perhaps these fragments were related to a noteworthy divine artifact? However, Vaunte had a limited number of well-known divine artifacts: the Staff of Mountains and Rivers, the Supreme Blade, the Holy Codex of White, the Radiant Holy Sword, and the Eternal Divine Spear. Brendel had ruled them all out, not even the Azure Spear used by the Knight of Azure to pierce the heart of the Duskgazer Dragon elicited such a significant response, nor did it bring about the arrival of dusk.
Logically, the Duskgazer Dragon should pay more attention to the Azure Spear, shouldn’t it? Or perhaps these three fragments belonged to the Duskgazer Dragon, yet it had no physical form in Vaunte; its true essence only manifested in chaos and left no relics in the material realm. It did not use weapons, and the dusk side had no known artifacts either. Brendel was utterly puzzled; regarding the origins of these stone fragments, even the well-informed Silver Elf Princess had no clue. In Nemeses’ memories, there was no indication of them, and he had even inquired with the silver dragon lady from the dragon clan, but the answer was, unfortunately, a denial.
This gray stone fragment seemed as if it had never existed in the history of this world.
Yet it was found by an unknown nobody—
Brendel recalled the process of obtaining the first fragment; it had been beside Antinna’s father’s corpse. It was placed among his belongings, alongside the letter he had written to Antinna, indicating that her father likely understood the value of this stone fragment. Antinna’s father—a minor noble from Bruglas—had gained military merit during the War of the Croaking Frogs and was thus granted the title of knight. Later, some distinguished heads emerged from the family, reaching the status of a baron at their peak. However, by the time of Antinna’s father, the family had long since fallen into decline. In the game’s background, Antinna’s father was an adventure enthusiast and a part-time archaeologist, often exploring and rarely returning home, and he had met his end during an expedition when he was killed by the Golden Demon Tree.
“Amber Sword” was a game that paid great attention to details. If one sought diligently, many stories behind the missions could be uncovered. However, placed against the expansive background of this game, Antinna’s father appeared rather unremarkable, even lacking detailed backstory. Other well-known missions had their backgrounds thoroughly uncovered by players, with even the slightest details not overlooked. Under these mission backgrounds, Antinna’s story line could only be considered ordinary at best; indeed, in the game, her story line was much more detailed than her father’s, as she ultimately became one of the main NPC protagonists of Erluin.
However, this seemingly unremarkable character, often criticized by players, was now linked to a fragment that very likely related to the Duskgazer Dragon, and it was not mere chance that he had placed this fragment among his belongings; Antinna’s father likely recognized its value.
This was peculiar—how did he discern it?
Brendel, having traversed two lifetimes and being a player who explored the game world freely, considered himself well-informed; compared to the average person in this world, he had a far better understanding of ancient texts and documents. The Silver Elf Princess Medisa, who had witnessed the war of saints and experienced that grand history, possessed vast knowledge and experience. The scholar Nemeses’ experiences in the game were no less impressive than his own; aside from having slightly less playtime, she even excelled in the game compared to him. Unlike him, who gained extensive knowledge only after crossing into this world, she was renowned for being a mobile library during her time in the game. Coupled with the silver dragon lady from the dragon clan and the Merchant Miss who inherited the knowledge of the Witch Queen, along with Queen Saint Ausoor, one of the four sages who had left not long ago—none of these individuals had recognized the value of this inconspicuous fragment.
Yet Antinna’s father did.
Brendel couldn’t help but deeply suspect Antinna’s father’s identity. In the game’s background, he was merely an ordinary noble, but it seemed everyone had underestimated this NPC, who had left behind only a family letter without any spoken lines in “Amber Sword.” Brendel suddenly recalled that he had only had limited conversations with Antinna about her father and had never delved deeply, mainly to avoid reminding this ill-fated girl of her sorrows, and partly because he had never considered that there might be secrets to uncover about Antinna’s father.
“Careless of me…”
Brendel tapped his forehead in realization, raising his head to shake the bell on his desk. The door opened in response, and Flour entered with a stern expression. Ever since she had become Medisa’s knight card, she had been uncharacteristically blunt with Brendel. However, she remained diligent in her role as his personal secretary. Brendel noticed that Flour was followed by a little sidekick—not her sister Tia, but Miss Romaine. The Merchant Miss was accustomed to barging in uninvited. She winked at Brendel and, before Flour could speak, preemptively said, “Brendel, I need to talk to you!”
“What is it this time?” Brendel asked with a frown. It wasn’t that he disliked seeing his fiancée, but Romaine seemed particularly interested in the stone fragment that could change the world, having attempted to swindle it from him to play with a few times. There was no way he would trust her with it; that would be like handing a ticking time bomb to a reckless person. Such a foolish act was out of the question, but the Merchant Miss’s persistence was extraordinary, to the extent that he had developed a headache at the mere sight of her face in recent days.
“This time it’s serious, Brendel,” Romaine said with a cheerful smile. “It seems the witches have been saying some strange things.”
Upon hearing this, Brendel’s expression grew serious.
The day had finally come.
Wind Queen had told him long ago that the legacy of the Dark Dragon was not singular, and that the witches only answered to the legitimate inheritor of the dark dragon’s legacy. However, there was still considerable disagreement among the witches regarding who the rightful heir was. The witches within Erluin leaned more towards Brendel. One must not underestimate the influence of the witches in Erluin; in the game, Erluin had a nickname—it was called the Witch Kingdom. Although Erluin was small, it housed several heavyweight witches, such as Effirlu, the rightful heir of the Death Moon branch, JarSugar of the Later Moon, and the Supreme Witch Mikaia of the Cup Moon who Brendel had encountered previously in shallow water town. Adding to this was the legendary Witch of the Lyre Moon, a faction that had four legitimate branches of witches within a mere small kingdom—the strength of witches in this nation was evident.
Moreover, this four-branch legacy of witches was not just any inheritance; they were nearly the highest-ranking branches within the Witch Kingdom. The witches of the Death Moon served as maintainers of law within the kingdom, second in rank only to the Witch Queen and the legendary thirteenth month, the Witch of the Black Moon. The witches of the Cup Moon were called rebellious witches, whose ideology often contradicted those of other witches. Still, among them, powerful figures like the later Supreme Witch Mikaia emerged, along with her mentor, the “Hypocritical Queen” Astagia.
As for the witches of the Lyre Moon, the most mysterious prophets, Brendel once suspected that one might be Romaine’s aunt. This branch’s historical reputation was not significant, but it was quite well-known in the Witch Kingdom because they were the earliest followers of the Dark Dragon. Finally, there were the witches of the Later Moon, the branch seen by Brendel firsthand during JarSugar’s battle, which was already the weakest branch within Erluin.
Not to mention, Brendel later discovered that the legacy of the Witch Queen still remained within Erluin. In fact, he even suspected that the four witch branches in Erluin might have been arranged to correspond with the legacy of the Witch Queen.
In this life, Brendel acquired the Dark Dragon’s legacy relatively early, and with some of his previous displays, the voices of the witches within Erluin had risen in influence among the witches’ realm. Because of this, many witches from other kingdoms even came to pledge allegiance to Brendel’s faction; the witches he later accepted included those from locations like Fanzan and the Great Glacier, from some of the more remote legacy bloodlines, and so forth. Nonetheless, the rising influence of the witches in Erluin didn’t mean there were no other dissenting opinions. In reality, even during Brendel’s peak moment, the majority of factions within the witches’ realm still held conservative views since the Dark Dragon’s legacy had been divided, with Brendel merely possessing one part of it.
Apart from the conservative factions, the loudest opposing voices came from the witches within Cruz. These witches evidently pledged themselves early on to the Silver Queen, firmly believing that their chosen leader was the true rightful heir.
But prior to this, the conflicts among the witches had remained submerged beneath the surface, merely turbulent without any open confrontation. This outward semblance of peace persisted only until the Silver Queen revealed her true identity. Just days prior, Brendel had heard about the switching of allegiances among the Jotungrund army and the Lionman troops. A thousand years after the War of Saints, the Minren flag once again waved across the land. This event clearly acted as a shot of adrenaline for the witches of Cruz, especially since there were indications that the Silver Queen was quite possibly the true rightful heir of the Dark Dragon.
First of all, this queen possessed at least two legacies and potentially many more. Even currently, Brendel was only on par with her. But the key lay in the fact that the Silver Queen had seized her legacy from the battlefield of the Last War concerning Odin; she had a deeper understanding of that historical narrative. The path she was treading was evidently the same one once walked by Odin.
All of this demonstrated the legitimacy of Her Majesty the Queen.
Over recent days, Brendel had learned through various channels about the suspicious individuals frequenting the vicinity of Fatan Port. Most of them were mountain dwellers, the Sainya people, and some claimed to have even seen the legendary Minren with black hair and golden eyes. These individuals predominantly hailed from one place—the Great Glacier—and were heading towards one location—the capital of the Cruz Empire. All indications showed that the Dark Dragon had awakened, and that empire, which once overshadowed all of Vaunte, was being revived.
This was undeniable legitimacy, just like the black flag brandished by the Silver Queen Constance.
Such changes would inevitably influence the realm of witches, with the most significant shift being the witches’ support for Brendel gradually leaning towards Her Majesty the Queen, with many previously conservative factions starting to make choices. Brendel had been aware of this news long before; in fact, JarSugar and Babasha had already alerted him.
Now, considering what the Merchant Miss was saying, even those witches who had originally allied with him were beginning to waver.
That was not a good omen.
Brendel frowned.
